Former FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny weighed in on the issue of explainability: “Not every consumer is going to need to understand every aspect of how this tech works. But… companies have to organize themselves and govern because explainability is not just for users, it’s also for the regulators and the enforcers. There comes a point where saying ‘I don’t know why it did that’ is not going to be an acceptable answer.’”

Michael Hind, a Distinguished Research Staff Member at IBM, underlined the need for tech companies to improve their tools to fix bias in data and help explain decisions.

Klon Kitchen, a Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, stressed that our current system is set up for “stability, not agility” and challenged the private sector to take an “active approach to identifying working ways forward for self-regulating best practices.”

Nicholas Degani, Special Counselor to the FCC Chairman, on innovation today: “Our market rewards output explainabilites. Consumers need to know what’s inside the box…what can it do and why people are using the product. The things that made Apple so great is that… the product did exactly what you wanted it to do, when you wanted it to do it.”

The other side: Guests also discussed the impact of artificial intelligence on the human experience, including how technology can enable discriminatory practices.

Natasha Durate, the AI Lead for the Center for Democracy & Technology, reminded guests to question who AI works for and challenge the bias against those without access to the interface.

Protesters gather north of Lafayette Square near the White House during a demonstration against racism and police brutality, in Washington, D.C. on Saturday evening. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have been rallying in cities across the U.S. and around the world to protest the killing of George Floyd. Huge crowds assembled in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Chicago for full-day events on Saturday.